Destination Canada: My SOPA Story

I would like to thank SOPA for all the guidance you provided me with before coming to Canada. At the very beginning of 2016, I decided pursue PhD in Management from a well known university. That’s when I was also looking for ways to apply to immigrate to Canada. A friend of mine suggested me to apply through the Express Entry and that’s a better choice. I started getting knowledge about the process and found out that applying through Provincial Nominee Program makes it easier to get selected. So, I researched all the provinces in Canada and out of all, New Brunswick looked better to me for its nature, environment and some other things. Fortunately, there was an information session regarding New Brunswick in Manila, Philippines. My wife and I signed up and attended the session.

Once we had all the information, we sent out all necessary documents and got our nomination letter few months after. Then we completed our profile on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) website and lodged our application. After just few months of waiting, we had our long-desired passport request email and we were advised by IRCC to go through with some pre-arrival sessions. Honestly, we attended sessions of few organizations, but SOPA was the best among all. SOPA has a very structured process, outstandingly helpful facilitators and amazing online resources.

I did two courses with SOPA – Job Search Strategies and Soft Skills: Working With Others. The facilitators during both of the courses made sure that I understood them very well, as well as finished on time. After landing in Canada, I took few weeks to know the place and all. I started with the Rogers company. However, in a month I received a call from ‘Brunswick News’ and they offered me a job as Contact Centre Manager. I was overwhelmed with joy and started working with them in February, 2018 and I’m still working here. The techniques and teachings from my SOPA facilitators were extremely helpful. Beside my dedication, those resources helped me to land a job that I always dreamt about.

Thank you very much, SOPA and wish you all the best.

Manna Ghose, SOPA Atlantic Client